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SitePoint book on JavaScript good?

I've always only ever touched lightly on JavaScript... I've never really had to use it properly or in an indepth way. Thing is, recently I've been looking for a new job and pretty much all of them say 'experience with JavaScript'. Also, over the last couple of years AJAX seems to of gone mental and seems very popular. It's probably time I should get my hands dirty with JavaScript.

I program PHP quite a lot, so the ideas of programming with variables etc. is not new or anything. I was basically wondering...

Do you think it's worth my learning JavaScript?
Learning JavaScript will be a good step to learn AJAX?
Will the SitePoint book on JavaScript (the Anathology) be good for me?

I like SitePoint books. Thing is, I've used Javascript now and again (copying scripts off the net) and I pretty much understand it looking at souce code...

Would the book be good for me to have some real work examples I can use?

Yes
It's a great book with example scripts that will come in handy in real-world situations. The first five chapters or so treat core Javascript (how to work with Strings, how to work with Arrays, etc.) and after that advanced DOM-manipulation script will be discussed.

I've read this book from cover to cover and use it now as a really useful resource, to look up browser quirks and technical details.